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Definition of bidonville in English:

bidonville

noun

A shanty town built of oil drums or other metal containers, especially on the outskirts of a North African city.

‘Others live in shantytowns, or bidonvilles, which are often bulldozed into oblivion by the town councils while the occupants are at a local feast.’

‘The site is next to the usually dry wadi which runs through the bidonville and hence it was available for development.’

‘The people of the bidonvilles are entirely cut off from the elites.’

‘Meanwhile, an estimated 20,000 poor and unemployed citizens live in slums or bidonvilles on the outskirts of the capital.’

‘A 1989 census found that 23 percent of the urban population lives in precarious and illegally built shacks in bidonvilles, or in somewhat better but substandard housing built without permit on unserviced land.’